Las annual conference of the Circle of Economy were closed this Friday with the intervention of the president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, who praised the role played by Spain as “engine of the EU”. In the presence of Pedro Sanchez, Von der Leyen made a strong defense of the role of Europe which, he said, “its time” has come. He came to him with the need to react in a coordinated way to the pandemic and, again, when he had to decide between leaving Ukraine at the feet of Putin’s Russia or standing up for him. In both cases, the leadership of the president of the EC has been forceful.
The intervention of the president of the EC highlights the importance of the sessions of the Cercle, which has awarded Von der Leyen with its award for European Construction, as well as her words contrast with the most doomsday speeches about the Spanish economy and its weight in the European Union. Von der Leyen recalled that Europe sees Spain as a leader in clean energy, essential to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian gas, one of the EU’s means “to end the Kremlin’s blackmail”. The president of the EC has also played a relevant role in the agreement on the fondos Next Generationof which he said will contribute to turn Catalonia into one of the new hydrogen valleys in Europe. It is comforting that the president of the EC points out the potential of the country. The really important thing is that here we know how to exploit them.